The big 3 were turned back with a scolding from Congress. They were told how irresponsible they were for coming to DC in their private jets. Nobody questioned if the very scolding itself was a PR stunt.

They came back again, promising to sell their private jets and to take a substantial cut in their salaries. $1 a year. The CEO's of Ford, GM and Chrysler all decided that they are willing to make such a 'sacrifice', should congress grant them their bail out fund.

This is not a new concept in the US. In fact, it dates back to the first world war in the US. Dollar-a-year men were businessmen who wanted to serve their country and did not care for the financial reward. Due to US law forbidding the government receiving services without paying for it, the symbolic dollar-a-year concept was born.

A prominent example of this is New York's mayor, Bloomberg. This doesn't work when you are talking about CEO's of Fortune 500 companies. Incentives, stock options, etc. add up to make the official salary insignificant.

Someone decided that it would be a good idea to pull this stunt. It is still unclear if it worked, but it certainly did generate a bit of media buzz.